Larry Sultan: Stories we tell ourselves

SFMOMA is the last venue for Larry Sultan: Here and Home (on view until July 23, 2017), a retrospective organized by Rebecca Morse, Associate Curator of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. To those of us who knew Sultan, the fact that the show closes in the Bay Area is appropriate, a sort of homecoming. A beloved artist and educator who passed away in 2009, he was long a pivotal member of the Bay Area arts community. Warm, funny, generous, and sparklingly intelligent, Sultan left behind a deeply personal body of work that continues to resonate in new and unexpected ways after his death. Here, we offer several takes on the meaning of this work, including three texts adapted from talks given at “Study Hall: 10x4 on Larry Sultan” on May 4th, 2017, at SFMOMA.

SFMOMA’s Open Space is a home for unruly, non-instrumentalized gestures. We’re anchored in the Bay Area but we cast a wide net, commissioning and supporting critical + experimental + poetic ruminations by artists, writers, and thinkers from all over the world. We also host parties, performances, and other live events.